Topic: Proof of IAL Pure Maths 2

Sakib Sir
Senior Maths Teacher
Radius Academy, Uttara, Dhaka
sakib0480@gmail.com
 1.1 Proof
You should be able to use three different types of proof.

Proof by deduction
o A proof by deduction (or by reasoning) always has a few logical steps.

Proof by exhaustion
o In a proof by exhaustion you check all possible cases separately.

Disproof by counter-example
o When trying to find a counter-example, you may need to try several possibilities.

You can use the symbols ,  and  in proof questions.

 means implies.
For example, x + 2 = 5  x = 3.

 means is equivalent to.

For example, y  ( x  1)( x  2)  y  x  3x  2.
2

You can read this as

y  ( x  1)( x  2)  y  x 2  3x  2 and y  x 2  3x  2  y  ( x  1)( x  2).

 means is implied by.

This is not often used, but an example is ( x  1)( x  4)  0  x  4 .

Examples
Example 1 Proof by deduction
Use completing the square to prove that n 2  6n  10 is positive for all values of n.

n 2  6n  10  n 2  6n  9  9  10 First complete the square.

= (n  3) 2  1

(n  3)2  0 for all values of n. Remember that squares cannot be

negative.
Therefore n 2  6n  10 is positive for all
values of n. With a proof you need a conclusion.

Abdullah Al Sakib
Senior Maths Teacher
 Example 2 Proof by exhaustion
Prove that 2n < (n + 1)2 for all positive integers n < 6.

The only positive integers less than 6 are It may be helpful to begin by explaining
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. what you will do to prove the statement.
Check that 2n < (n + 1)2 for each case.
n = 1:
In a proof by exhaustion, work through
2n = 21 = 2 and (n + 1)2 = (1 + 1)2 = 4; all the possibilities in a systematic way
2<4 to make sure you don’t miss any.
n = 2:
2n = 22 = 4 and (n + 1)2 = (2 + 1)2 = 9;
4<9
n = 3:
2n = 23 = 8 and (n + 1)2 = (3 + 1)2 = 16;
8 < 16
n = 4:
2n = 24 = 16 and (n + 1)2 = (4 + 1)2 = 25;
16 < 25
n = 5:
2n = 25 = 32 and (n + 1)2 = (5 + 1)2 = 36;
32 < 36
2n < (n + 1)2 for all five possible cases Always end your proof with a
and this completes the proof. conclusion.

Example 3 Wemin states the following.

A number of the form n2 + 3n + 7 is a prime number for any

integer greater than 0.

Prove that Wemin is wrong by finding a counter-example.

Try n = 1 You may have to try several values

n 2  3n  7 = 12  3  1  7  11 before you find a counter-example.
This is prime.
Try n = 2
n 2  3n  7 = 22  3  2  7  17
This is prime.
Try n = 3
n 2  3n  7 = 32  3  3  7  25
This is not prime, as 25 can be divided by 5.
This proves that Wemin is wrong. Always end your proof with a
n = 3 is a counter-example. conclusion.

Note: You may have spotted that n = 7 is another counter-example.

When n = 7, each of the three terms of n2 + 3n + 7 is a multiple of 7 and so the
sum is also a multiple of 7. (72 + 3 × 7 + 7 = 11 × 7)

Abdullah Al Sakib
Senior Maths Teacher
 Example 4 Find a counter-example to disprove the statement
1 1
mn  for integers m and n (m ≠ 0 and n ≠ 0).
m n

For m = 2 and n = –1, You can pick any m > 0 and n < 0.
1 1 1
 and  1.
m 2 n

1 Always finish with a statement. You

So 2  1, but  1.
2 could add ‘This proves that the
statement is not correct.’

Exercise

1. Prove that x 2  8 x  21 is positive for all values of x.

2. Prove that 3x 2  6 x  5 is positive for all values of x.

3. (a) Prove that n 2  6n has a factor 4 for all even numbers n.

(b) Prove by counter-example that n 2  6n does not have a factor 4 for all integers n.

4. Find a counter-example to prove that n 2  n  11 is not prime for all positive integer values of n.

Prove that x  y  ( x  y )( x  xy  y ) .
3 3 2 2
5.

6. Prove by exhaustion that there are exactly two natural numbers less than 101 that are both a
square and a cube integer. [Note: the natural numbers are the set {1, 2, 3, … }.]

7. Find a counter-example to disprove the following statement.

y2  1  y  1

8. Disprove the following statement.

m 2  16  m  4  0

9. Prove that n 2  3n  13 is not prime for all positive integer values of n.

10. Insert one of ,  or  into the following statement about integer n. Explain your answer.
n2 + 1 is even ……. n is odd

11. Insert one of ,  or  into the following statement.

m2 is an integer ……. m is an integer

Abdullah Al Sakib
Senior Maths Teacher
 Answers

1. x 2  8 x  21  x 2  8 x  16  16  21  ( x  4)2  5
(x + 4)2 ≥ 0 for all values of x, and therefore (x +4)2 + 5 > 0.
Hence x 2  8 x  21 is positive for all values of x.

2. 3x 2  6 x  5  3( x  1) 2  2 ; ( x  1) 2  0, so 3( x  1)2  2  0
Therefore 3x 2  6 x  5  0 for all values of x.

3. (a) n is even  n  2m where m is an integer.

n2  6n  (2m)2  6(2m)  4m2  12m  4(m2  3m) or 4m(m  3)
So n 2  6n is a multiple of 4.
(b) A counter-example is given by any odd value of n.
For example, for n = 1, n 2  6n  1  6  7 . This is not a multiple of 4.

4. n = 11 is a counter-example. You may have found a different

n  n  11  11  11  11  143  11 13
2 2
counter-example, such as n = 10.
Therefore n 2  n  11 is not always prime.
With a proof by deduction like this,
5. ( x  y )( x  xy  y )  x( x  xy  y )  y ( x  xy  y )
2 2 2 2 2 2 you start with the expression on one
side and keep working until you get
= x  x y  xy  yx  xy  y  x  y
3 2 2 2 2 3 3 3
to the expression on the other side.
So ( x  y )( x 2  xy  y 2 )  x3  y 3 , which is what you needed to prove.

6. The cubes less than 101 are 13 = 1, 23 = 8, 33 = 27 and 43 = 64. (53 = 125 > 101)
Of these four numbers, two are squares, 12 = 1 and 82 = 64.
So there are exactly two cubes that are also squares between 0 and 101.

7. When y  2, y 2  4 . Therefore y 2  1  y  1 is not correct.

So y 2  1  y  1 is not correct.

m  4 gives a counter-example. m  (4)  16, but m  4  4  4  8  0

2 2
8.
This proves that the statement is false.

9. n = 13 gives a counter-example.
n 2  3n  13  132  3  13  13  221  13  17.
Therefore n 2  3n  13 is not prime for all values of n.

10.  because
n2 + 1 is even  n2 is odd  n is odd
and n is odd  n2 is odd  n2 + 1 is even

11.  because when m is an integer m × m is an integer.

Abdullah Al Sakib
Senior Maths Teacher
 However m2 = 3 gives m = 3 , so when m2 is an integer, m is not always an integer.

Abdullah Al Sakib
Senior Maths Teacher